Research Reveals Deep Roots of Opposition to Data Center Expansion

While frontier AI developers are committing trillions of dollars toward expanding computational infrastructure, a significant majority of the American public opposes the construction. Recent polling indicates that over 60% of Americans support restrictions on new data centers, a sentiment that has intensified in recent quarters. According to Data Center Watch, local opposition successfully disrupted $68 billion worth of projects in the second quarter of 2026 alone.

Tech firms often struggle to reconcile the rising demand for their services with the grassroots resistance to the physical plants required to power them. Some industry narratives have suggested that this opposition is fueled by covert Chinese interference, but a comprehensive new report from the nonprofit Data & Society challenges that premise.

The study, which involved 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with 44 Pennsylvania residents between 2024 and 2026, explores the social dynamics behind the backlash. Livia Garofalo, a researcher at Data & Society, noted that on-the-ground research helps dismantle the hype surrounding AI, revealing the tension between the narrative of AI as an inevitable industrial revolution and public fear regarding its implications.

The report highlights a stark shift in Pennsylvania’s political landscape. In July 2025, Governor Josh Shapiro championed a summit celebrating $90 billion in planned AI infrastructure investment. However, within a year, Shapiro signed an order imposing stricter requirements on data center projects and removed them from regulatory fast-track programs, signaling that policymakers were responding to local sentiment.

Maia Woluchem, a program director at Data & Society and co-author of the report, explained that Pennsylvanians possess a deep historical awareness of industrial cycles, including coal mining, oil, steel, and fracking. These experiences have fostered a skepticism toward utopian industrial promises.

“People in Pennsylvania especially have incredible experience with industrial change, have deep lineages of industrial trauma, enough to sniff when things don’t feel right to them,” Woluchem said.

While labor unions have largely backed data center development due to perceived job opportunities, the research identifies the industry’s own promotional efforts as a form of propaganda. The Data Center Coalition, a trade group, has established websites such as “Pennsylvania Connects” and spent at least $19,000 lobbying state government last year.

Despite these industry efforts, opposition has crossed traditional political lines. Woluchem described the resistance as “post-partisan,” driven by a diverse coalition ranging from environmental groups concerned about water and energy use to residents worried about property values and electricity costs.

Residents also expressed frustration with corporate tactics, including non-disclosure agreements imposed on local officials and the sudden appearance of executives from major tech firms at community meetings. This erosion of trust extends beyond local governance; Garofalo pointed out that consumers feel exploited by AI technologies designed to simulate intimacy while extracting data.

Ultimately, the report suggests there is no simple solution for the AI industry to address this wide array of concerns, as the core issue remains a profound deficit of public trust.